Tucked in US President Barack Obama's 2016 budget is a major change for gay couples.

The $4 trillion budget released yesterday (2 January) proposes an amendment to the Social Security Act to make all gay married couples eligible to receive spousal benefits, regardless of where they live.

Under current federal law, social security benefits are only available to gay married couples living in the 36 states that recognize such unions.

'For many years, there have been powerful voices condemning homosexual conduct as immoral, but the Court’s obligation in this case is not to determine or mandate a particular moral code, but rather "to define the liberty of all"'

A federal judge in Alaska ruled the US state's marriage ban is unconstitutional

Plaintiffs want to either get married or have Montana recognize their marriage performed in another state

Four same-sex couples have filed a federal suit against the state of Montana's ban on gay marriage.

The couples, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, are suing for the right to marry in Montana or to have their marriage performed in another state legally recognized where they live.

The plaintiffs are: Angie and Tonya Rolando of Great Falls who share a last name but are not married; Shauna and Nicole Goubeaux of Billings; Ben Milano and Chase Weinhandl of Bozeman; and Sue Hawthorne and Adel Johnson of Helena.

'We can tell you by experience that there’s tons of support down here,' says Mississippi native Bass in Freedom to Marry video

While gay marriage is slowly spreading - state by state - in the US, none of the states where it has become legal have been in the South.

Mississippi native Lance Bass, engaged to marry actor Michael Turchin, is confident that is about to change.

'We’re here; our feet are planted here in Mississippi, and we can tell you by experience that there’s tons of support down here,' Bass says in a video released Thursday (13 March) by Southerners for the Freedom to Marry.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has announced his support for same-sex marriage a year after signing civil unions for same-sex couples into law

Democratic Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has announced that he wants his state to join the growing list of US states that allow same-sex couples to legally marry – releasing a statement in support of the campaign for equal marriage in his state.

‘We have advocated for equal rights for all Coloradans and we will continue to advocate for equal rights for all Coloradans,’ Hickenlooper said in his statement for advocacy group Why Marriage Matters Colorado.

Four of the plaintiffs are raising children together and want legal protections

Florida's ban on gay marriage is being challenged in court by six same-sex couples who want to tie the not.

The couples and the Equality Florida Institute filed a lawsuit in state court in Miami on Tuesday (21 January) in Miami seeking the freedom to marry.

Theor lawsuit argues that Florida’s laws barring same-sex couples from marriage violate the US Constitution by denying them the legal protections and equal dignity that having the freedom to marry provides.

Plaintiffs include university instructors, teacher of deaf children and a military veteran

Four female couples from Boise, Idaho, have filed a federal challenge to their state's ban on gay marriage and refusal to recognize same-sex unions from other states.

The lawsuit argues that Idaho’s laws are in violation of the United States Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and due process - an argument used in successful lawsuits filed in other states such as New Jersey.

Retired Lutheran pastor Gilbert Rossing has told of how his gay sons forced him to change his mind about homosexuality and Christianity and come to support same-sex marriage in backing gay couples’ right to wed in Oregon

A retired US Lutheran pastor has shared how his sons coming out to him has inspired him to question his beliefs and come to accept same-sex couples as acceptable for marriage in the eyes of God.

Gilbert Rossing, a former minister of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Portland who now lives in Washington state, told his story in a bid to urge people in Oregon to support efforts to put same-sex marriage on the ballot for 2014 elections.

A group of US military veterans have added their voices to the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in the state of Illinois as efforts to force the reform mount

US military veterans have joined the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in the state of Illinois where the governor and state senate have backed the reform but the Republican controlled House of Representatives continues to block progress.

Veterans Unite for Marriage decided to organize after the US Department of Veterans Affairs announced in September that it would begin providing equal benefits to military personnel who were legally married in their home states.

Suit claims state law 'sends a purposeful message that lesbians, gay men, and their children are second-class citizens'

Three West Virginia couples are the lead plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday (1 October) that seeks to overturn the state's ban on gay marriage.

The lawsuit, filed by Lambda Legal in the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, argues that West Virginia's marriage ban unfairly discriminates against same-sex couples and their children.

New York is the first state to announce that qualifying LGBT couples will receive estate tax refunds

Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, announced gay couples, who meet all requirements, will receive estate tax refunds.

In 2011 June, the legislature of the US Middle Atlantic State approved a same sex marriage law. State officials decided local estate tax regulations would apply to gay married couples on, or after, 24 June 2011.

House of Representatives failed to vote on bill in May for marriage equality

The activist group Illinois Unites for Marriage is pumping $2 million into a campaign to get gay marriage legislation passed in the state.

The Illinois House of Representatives failed in May to vote on a bill to make same-sex marriage legal. The bill had already passed in the Illinois Senate and Governor Pat Quinn had vowed to sign it into law.

Illinois Unites for Marriage will use the $2 million to hire a campaign manager, field director, a faith organizer and 15 field managers placed throughout the state.